Where those associated with Western films from around the world are laid to rest.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

RIP Michael Park

Hollywood Reporter

By Etan Vlessing

5/10/2017

Michael Parks, Film and TV Character Actor, Dies at 77

The 'Twin Peaks' and 'Kill Bill' star worked with
filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith.

Michael Parks, the veteran Hollywood character actor who
appeared in Kill Bill, Django Unchained and Red State, has died. He was 77.

His passing on May 9 was confirmed to The Hollywood
Reporter by his agent, Jane Schulman of Vesta Talent Agency. The cause of death
was not disclosed.

During his busy Hollywood career, Parks appeared in
movies by auteur directors like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin
Smith, who paid tribute to the veteran actor on Wednesday via Instagram.

"Michael was, and will likely forever remain, the
best actor I've ever known. I wrote both #RedState and @tuskthemovie FOR Parks,
I loved his acting so much," Smith wrote. "He was, hands-down, the
most incredible thespian I ever had the pleasure to watch perform. And Parks
brought out the absolute best in me every time he got near my set."

Parks was born in April, 1940 in Corona, California, and
grew up as the son of a baseball player. His first screen roles included
playing a nephew named Tom in 1961 in the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys and the
role of Park in a 1962 Gunsmoke episode. He also appeared in legal dramas like
Perry Mason and Sam Benedict, and had roles in Then Came Bronson, ABC's Dynasty
and the spin-off series The Colbys, and David Lynch's Twin Peaks, where he
played a Canadian drug runner.

Parks' movie credits included Ben Affleck's Argo, the
horror/crime hybrid From Dusk Till Dawn, and dual roles in the Kill Bill
franchise of Texan Ranger Earl McGraw in the first film and Esteban Vihaio in
the sequel. And he played a villain in Smith's horror films Red State and Tusk.

Parks is survived by his wife, Oriana Parks, whom he
married in 1997, and a son, the actor James Parks.

PARKS, Michael
(Harry Samuel Parks Jr.)

Born:
4/24/1940, Corona, California, U.S.A.

Died: 5/9/2017,
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Michael Parks’
westerns – actor:

Zane Grey Theater (TV) – 1960 1961 (Juanito, young
prisoner)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1962 (Park)

Stoney Burke 1962 (Tack Reynolds)

Stranger on the Run – 1967 (Vince McCay)

The Last Hard Men – 1976 (Noel Nye)

Royce (TV) – 1976 (Blair Mabry)

The Return of Josey Wales – 1986 (Josey Wales)

Billy the Kid - 1989

From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter – 1990
(Ambrose Bierce)

Walker, Texas Ranger (TV) – 1996, 1999 (Caleb Hooks)

Bullfighter – 2000 (Cordobes)

Miracle at Sage Creek – 2005 (Justice Stanley)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert
Ford – 2007 (Henry Craig)

About Me

Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1946 I have a BA degree in American History from Cal St. Northridge. I've been researching the American West and western films since the early 1980s and visiting filming sites in Spain and the U.S.A. Elected a member of the Spaghetti Western Hall of Fame 2010.